Good friend, quoth he, CLEO. Mine ear muft pluck it thence. 3 termagant feed,] Old copy-arm-gaunt] i. e. his fteed worn lean and thin by much service in war. So, Fairfax: "His fall-worn fteed the champion ftout bestrode." WARBURTON. On this note Mr. Edwards has been very lavish of his pleasantry, and indeed has juftly cenfured the mifquotation of ftall-worn, for ftall-worth, which means ftrong, but makes no attempt to explain the word in the play. Mr. Seward, in his preface to Beaumont and Fletcher, has very elaborately endeavoured to prove, that an arm-gaunt fteed is a fteed with lean fhoulders. Arm is the Teutonic word for want, or poverty. Arm-gaunt may be therefore an old word, fignifying, lean for want, ill fed. Edwards's obfervation, that a worn-out horfe is not proper for Atlas to mount in battle, is impertinent; the horse here mentioned feems to be a post-horse, rather than a war-horse. Yet as arm-gaunt feems not intended to imply any defect, it perhaps means, a horfe fo flender that a man might clafp him, and therefore formed for expedition. Hanmer reads: -arm-girt feed. JOHNSON. On this paffage, which I believe to be corrupt, I have nothing fatisfactory to propofe. It is clear, that whatever epithet was ufed, it was intended as defcriptive of a beautiful horfe, fuch (we may prefume) as our author has defcribed in his Venus and Adonis. Dr. Johnson must have look'd into fome early edition of Mr. Edwards's book, for in his feventh edition he has this note: "I have fometimes thought, that the meaning may poffibly be, thinfhoulder'd, by a ftrange compofition of Latin and English :-gaunt quoad armos.' MALONE. I fuppofe there must be fome error in the paffage, and should amend it by reading And foberly did mount a termagant fteed, That neigh'd &c. Termagant means furious. So Douglas, in Henry IV. is called the termagant Scot, an epithet that agrees well with the steed's Who neigh'd fo high, that what I would have fpoke Was beaftly dumb'd by him.' CLEO. What, was he fad, or merry? ALEX. Like to the time o' the year between the extremes Of hot and cold; he was nor fad, nor merry. CLEO. O well-divided difpofition!-Note him, Note him, good Charmian, 'tis the man; but note him': He was not fad; for he would shine on those That make their looks by his he was not merry; Which feem'd to tell them, his remembrance lay neighing fo high. Befides, by faying that Antony mounted compofedly a horfe of fuch mettle, Alexas prefents Cleopatra with a flattering image of her hero, which his mounting flowly a jaded poft-horfe, would not have done. M. MASON. When I first met with Mr. Mafon's conjecture, I own I was ftartled at its boldnefs; but that I have fince been reconciled to it, its appearance in the prefent text of Shak fpeare will fufficiently prove. It ought to be obferved, in defence of this emendation, that the word termagaunt (originally the proper name of a clamorous Saracenical deity) did not, without pafling through feveral gradations of meaning, become appropriated (as at prefent) to a turbulent female. I may add, that the fobriety difplay'd by Antony in mounting a fteed of temper fo oppofite, reminds us of a fimilar contraft in Addison's celebrated comparison of the Angel: "Calm and ferene he drives the furious blast." Let the critick who can furnifh a conjecture, nearer than termagaunt to the traces of the old reading arm-gaunt, or can make any change productive of fenfe more appofite and commodious, difplace Mr. M. Mafon's amendment, which, in my opinion, is to be numbered among the feliciter audentia of criticifm, and meets at least with my own unequivocal approbation. STEEVENS. The 5 Was beafly dumb'd by him.] The old copy has dumbe. correction was made by Mr. Theobald. "Alexas means (fays he,) the horse made fuch a neighing, that if he had spoke, he could not have been heard." MALONE. The verb which Mr. Theobald would introduce, is found in Pericles Prince of Tyre, 1609: Deep clerks the dumbs" &c, STEEVENS. In Egypt with his joy: but between both: So does it no man elfe.-Met'it thou my posts? CLEO. Who's born that day When I forget to fend to Antony, Shall die a beggar.-Ink and paper, Charmian.Welcome, my good Alexas.-Did I, Charmian, Ever love Cæfar fo? CHAR. O that brave Cæfar! CLEO. Be chok'd with fuch another emphafis! Say, the brave Antony. CHAR. The valiant Cæfar! CLEO. By Ifis, I will give thee bloody teeth, If thou with Cæfar paragon again My man of men. CHAR. By your moft gracious pardon, I fing but after you. CLEO. My fallad days; - When I was green in judgement :-Cold in blood, -So thick?] i. c. in fuch quick fucceffion. So, in Macbeth : 66 "Came poft with poft,-." See Vol. VII. p. 354, n. 9. My fallad days; STEEVENS. When I was green in judgment :-Cold in blood, To fay, as I faid then!] Cold in blood, is an upbraiding expoftulation to her maid. Thoje, fays fhe, were my fallad days, when I was green in judgment; but your blood is as cold as my judgment, if you have the fame opinion of things now as I had then. WARBURTON. unpeople Egypt.] By fending out meffengers. JOHNSON. 7 ACT II. SCENE I. Meffina. A Room in Pompey's Houfe. Enter POMPEY, MENECRATES, and MENAS.' Poм. If the great gods be just, they shall assist The deeds of justest men. MENE. Know, worthy Pompey, That what they do delay, they not deny. POм. Whiles we are fuitors to their throne, de cays The thing we fue for." MENE. We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms, which the wife powers Deny us for our good; so find we profit, By lofing of our prayers. Ром. I fhall do well: 8 The perfons are fo named in the firft edition; but I know not why Menecrates appears; Menas can do all without him. JOHNSON. All the fpeeches in this fcene that are not fpoken by Pompey and Varrius, are marked in the old copy, Mene, which must stand for Menecrates. The course of the dialogue fhows that fome of them at lealt belong to Menas; and accordingly they are to him attributed in the modern editions; or rather, a fyllabie [Men.] has been prefixed, that will ferve equally to denote the one or the other of these perfonages. I have given the first two speeches to Menecrates, and the reit to Menas. It is a matter of little confequence. MALONE. 9 Whiles we are fuitors to their throne, decays The thing we fue for.] The meaning is, While we are praying, the thing for which we pray is lofing its value. JOHNSON. The people love me, and the fea is mine; No wars without doors: Cæfar gets money, where Of both is flatter'd; but he neither loves, ΜΕΝ. POм. Where have you this? 'tis false. ΜΕΝ. From Silvius, fir. POм. He dreams; I know, they are in Rome to gether, Looking for Antony: But all charms of love, 9 My power's a crefcent, &c.] In old editions: My powers are crefcent, and my auguring hope Says it will come to the full. What does the relative it belong to? It cannot in fense relate to hope, nor in concord to powers. The poet's allufion is to the man; and Pompey would fay, he is yet but a half moon, or crefcent; but his hopes tell him, that crescent will come to a full orb. 2 THEOBALD. charms -] Old copy-the charms-. The article is here omitted, on account of metre. STEEVENS. 3 thy wan'd lip!] In the old edition it is thy wand lip! Perhaps, for fond lip, or warm lip, fays Dr. Johnfon. Wand, if it ftand, is either a corruption of wan, the adjective, or a contraction of wanned, or made wan, a participle. So, in Hamlet: That, from her working, all his vifage wan'd." Again, in Marston's Antonio and Mellida : 66 — a cheek "Not as yet wan'd.” Or perhaps waned lip, i, e. decreafed, like the moon, in its beauty. So, in The Tragedy of Mariam, 1613: "And Cleopatra then to feek had been |